At least 74 people were killed and 171 others injured following a series of US airstrikes on the Ras Isa oil terminal on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, according to Houthi-run health authorities. The terminal, located 60km north of Hudaydah, is controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi movement.
The US military claimed the strikes were aimed at crippling the Houthis’ economic capabilities by targeting a key fuel supply point. “The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis,” the US Central Command stated, accusing the group of financing terrorism through illicit fuel sales.
However, the Houthi-led government condemned the attacks as a “full-fledged war crime,” asserting that Ras Isa was a civilian facility. Houthi media outlet Al-Masirah reported 14 strikes in total, with many of the casualties said to be terminal workers. Graphic footage showed charred bodies near burning tankers and paramedics killed in secondary strikes.
Iran’s foreign ministry denounced the assault as “barbaric,” while Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi defiantly claimed the group would continue its operations. Since mid-March, the Houthis say they have launched nearly 80 attacks involving missiles and drones, including strikes targeting the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and sites in Israel.
The strikes mark the deadliest US operation in Yemen since President Donald Trump resumed a heavy bombardment campaign last month in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping. Trump recently redesignated the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and vowed to “completely annihilate” the group.
The conflict in Yemen has raged for over a decade, displacing 4.8 million people and leaving half the population in need of aid. Despite previous international interventions and multiple rounds of airstrikes, the Houthis remain entrenched, continuing to target vessels in the Red Sea and asserting their actions support Palestinians amid the ongoing Gaza conflict.
The international community now faces growing pressure to address both the escalating violence and the worsening humanitarian crisis.
